Fitbloggin Info: If anyone is going to Fitbloggin, you may want to book your room at the Marriott ASAP. I just booked mine tonight and was told they had no more rooms left under the designated block. She finally “push it through” and gave me the conference rate. It looks like there are about 75 people signed up so far – at least there are 75 people with Web sites. Can’t wait!

As some of you know, a couple days ago I tried my first ever pinkorange. I was at a loss for what kind of orange would be pink (kind of an oxymoron) but thanks to one reader, I now know where these pinkies come from. As quoted from the Sunkist Web site:

Cara Cara oranges, a type of navel grown in California’s San Joaquin Valley, are available January through April. Their outward appearance is similar to other navels, but their interior is a distinctive pinkish red and has an exceptionally sweet flavor with a tangy cranberry-like zing. Cara Caras are a rich source of Vitamins A and C, fiber and Lycopene. A perfect snack served as wedges, they’re also a colorful addition to beverages or squeezed into a vinaigrette salad dressing.

It just so happens that I had another pink orange today, and sure enough, when I looked on the sticker, it said Cara Cara!

Scott started teaching his night class again, so I was on my own for dinner tonight (well, actually with two kids in tow). So, it was a sandwich for me…

I put a few slices of lean ham and reduced-fat salami on a piece of double-fiber Brownberry bread, plus a little Swiss cheese for good measure. Apparently, when Mr. C saw the cheese, he had to know where cheese came from. I replied, “from milk that comes from cows.” He was satisfied with that answer. But when I added, “or milk from sheep,” he said, “but sheep don’t drink milk”. Not entirely true because sheep do drink milk, but it’s still funny, especially when that is my only entertainment for the night.

After dinner, I enjoyed one of the last pieces of the Trader Joe’s apple bread…

I am sorry to see it go so quickly, but luckily gingerbread is next.

2010 Trip #2: Washington, DC

As you’ll recall, two weeks ago I headed to Phoenix/Scottsdale for my first work-related trip of the year. Tomorrow, I leave for the second – to Washington, DC. My bags are packed, I’m ready to go…or so the old song goes. I am heading out a little earlier in the day to avoid the rush in the evening. Also, I really don’t like getting into a new city in the dark. I usually feel a little uneasy taking a taxi or public trans at night, particularly when I’m by myself. Fortunately, I am meeting an friend for dinner. I haven’t seen her in a year so it will be fun to catch up.

Hope you all enjoyed your MLK day! I took advantage of the day off and slept in a little (until around 7 AM). It wasn’t until I got out of bed that I noticed something strange in the house – it was super COLD!!! Apparently, the heater went out sometime in the middle of the night. We were all walking around the house in hoodies and bathrobes until the heater guy came to fix the problem.

I did warm up a little in the interim with a 45 minute interval run on the treadmill, followed by a kick-ass ab workout! After waking up to the cold, I wanted something warm and fuzzy for breakfast…

So, a little Trader Joe’s apple bread hit the spot! I only had one small slice (watching portions ya know!) so a little later I munched on a 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt with a few walnuts…

A little Greek yogurt sure goes a LONG way, especially when you add MUFA-filled nuts. Tazo Awake tea was also on the cold morning menu…

Whenever I drink tea at home – which is quite a lot lately because I’m trying to drink more of it – my kids always ask for some. They are very young, so I only give them a little herbal tea to drink. They take a few sips then forget about it. This morning, I jokingly complained to Scott – why is it that whenever I make tea, no one drinks it? He responded with “that includes you” as he pointed to my mug full of cold tea. Touché!

I tried to get fancy for lunch by making my first ever butternut squash soup. Ok, honestly, it was Trader Joe’s butternut squash soup, but it was still my first time having it at home…

I hate to admit it, but at first taste, this soup was a little bland. But I added a few pieces of granny smith apple and some walnuts and it was much better. At just 90 calories a cup (without the garnish), this soup really is a great low-cal lunch.

I worked for a few hours this afternoon (it never ends, does it 😉 ) then we were off to IKEA to buy some shelves. Whenever I go to IKEA I am completely overwhelmed by the size and number of products in the store. We finally decided on some shelves after an hour, but when we finally located them in the “pick up” section, we realized the box would not fit in our car! OK, that was a wasted trip – blah!!!

But, not to despair, we ended up eating at Maggiano’s for dinner. For all of you wondering about our restaurant diet – we used our gift cards! Woo hoo – gotta love those gift cards. After eating what seemed like a whole loaf of bread, Scott and I split the house specialty – rigatoni D, with mushrooms, onions, chicken, and rigatoni all mixed in a marsala cream sauce.

When we lived in the city, we would go to Maggiano’s every other week, or so it seemed. And, we would most often order the Rigatoni D. But after a while, I just stopped liking the dish and stopped ordering it completely. After more than 5 years of being rigatoni D free, we decided to give it a try tonight. It was good, but then I realized why I really stopped eating it 5 years ago. Within an hour after eating, I felt sick, no doubt due to the cream sauce. No more rigatoni D for 5 more years – that’s it!

I’m actually still feeling sick right now, so I’m turning in early. Have a great night everyone!

Evening everyone! Hope you’re Saturday was fun. My day was pretty lazy. I did not end up going to yoga this morning – blah!. After running 6 days this week, plus adding weights, lunges/squats, and an office yoga session, I was pretty tired this morning. But, I did have a fantastic breakfast…

This is my second day of oats in a bowl – although today it was in a ramekin = paired with Tazo Awake tea…

Check out my new tea/coffee cup from Anthropologie! It has my initial, of course, which I absolutely love, and it looks so French. Plus, it was only $6! I could have spelled out my whole name for that price, but I really did not need 8 more cups.

Lunch wound up being a sandwich again, although this time I actually slowed down enough to enjoy it…

Much of the day was spent lounging but also doing a little vacation planning. We’re heading out the Disney World in a few weeks and we’re anxiously planning/making all of our dining reservations ahead of time. I’ve actually been making reservations for the last 3 weeks, so today when I called the dining hotline, the customer service rep told me I had over 20 reservations made under my name. Yikes! I better cancel some of those. And so, I spent over an hour trying to reconcile the reservations, deciding which ones to keep and which ones to give up. As of now, we have reservations at:

Le Cellier (Epcot)

Boma (Animal Kingdom Lodge)

1900 Park Fare (Grand Floridian)

Crystal Palace (Magic Kingdom)

Chef Mickey’s (Contemporary)

Whispering Canyon (Wilderness Lodge)

Wolfgang Puck Cafe (Downtown Disney)

I seriously can NOT believe we will be eating at all of these restaurants – 7 top restaurant reservations in 7 days! We will definitely be making up for our Restaurant Diet!

And, except for Boma, all of these restaurants will be NEW for me – and that’s saying a lot considering I used to work for Disney. If it isn’t obvious by the reservations, we are doing the Disney Dining plan – for the first time. I’m really not sure how much money we are saving by doing this, if we’re even saving any at all. But, since we go to Disney once a year, we thought we’d give it a try.

Anyway, dinner was a brand new creation – a recipe/serving suggestion taken from the February issue of Real Simple magazine…

The magazine featured 10 ways on how to doctor up plain cheese ravioli. ALL of the serving suggestions sounded delicious, which prompted me to try one tonight. I started with Trader Joe’s mini cheese ravioli..

Which I cooked according to the directions. Then I added a mixture of cream and Trader Joe’s pesto…

I mixed the sauce and noodles together then put that into a glass baking pan. It was topped off with parmesan cheese and baked for about 20 minutes, until browned on top.

This was a great dish to make on the fly, although I’m not sure how healthy it was. I’m eager to try more of the serving suggestions the article suggested.

OK, I’m starting to fall asleep. Take care everyone and chat with you all tomorrow.

Happy Friday everyone! I’m going to make this quick because my head is hurting right now. I had a great 30-minute interval run (ranging from 7.0 to 7.6) on the treadmill, followed by lunges and squats. I know I’m going to feel that tomorrow!

BREAKFAST

After seeing many of you starting your day with oatmeal, I’ve been craving it for days. I usually can’t find time to make it on a true workday, so I saved all of my oatmeal wishes and cashed them in today…

I actually made TWO bowls of these because Miss M quickly spied my yummy oats and wanted some. How could I say no to her big blue eyes?

As I mentioned yesterday, I had a very important call today about an upcoming, nationwide project for my company. Well, that one phone call turned into three phone calls and several emails. Taking calls on my day off can be a little tricky, especially when I’m watching the kids. Thankfully, my mother-in-law drove a hour to stay at our house while the kids napped. I was really afraid the kids would wake up while I was on the call which would make the situation very awkward. They ended up sleeping through all of the calls!

LUNCH

Lunch was not very healthy today for two reasons…1) I didn’t have time to make a decent lunch because I was on the phone (or prepping for the call) from 12:30- nearly 2:30 and 2) I ate my lunch super fast because I was starving after the calls…

Veggies? NO

Fruit? NO

A big cheesy roll with salami? YES

Again, not so healthy.

DINNER

I made up for it at dinner though. Earlier this morning I picked up some fresh whole wheat pizza dough from Trader Joe’s and all of the pizza fixins’…

Could I have made pizza dough myself? Probably. Do I have time to do this? Take a guess at that answer. Trader Joe’s pizza dough is actually quite good – it IS Trader Joe’s after all. And, it’s only 99 cents. Why would I want to make my own???

Since we were splitting the pizza four ways, I had to be very careful of the ingredients. I like all types of pizza (when it’s good pizza) but tonight, I topped my portion with sauteed bell peppers, spinach, red onions, turkey pepperoni, and cheese. Sauteing the peppers, onions, spinach, and pepperoni ahead of time really helps bring out the flavors.

I think the whole pizza – which all of its ingredients, only cost about $5. Not bad for a family of four – healthy and cheap!

Almost forgot to mention…prior to pizza, we all grazed on some Trader Joe’s spinach dip…

I can seriously eat a whole bowl of this stuff by myself (but of course I would never do that ;-)). I took a few bites and then pushed it aside to save room for pizza — thankfully.

Gotta run for now. I’m going to try to make it into the gym for the 8 AM yoga session – we’ll see about that!

Hi All! Glad to see you’re all intrigued by the concept of barefoot running. One reader, Neal, mentioned a very unique type of running shoe/sock that is supposed to allow the foot to move in a more natural way but still gives you protection from the road/trail and related elements. Neal wrote…

I’m a big proponent of the Vibram Five Fingers. You should give them a try if you are serious about exploring the barefoot running thing.

I have to admit, when I saw this “shoe” it kind of creeped me out a bit. But then it also reminded me of the toesie socks that were so popular a few years back! It really makes sense though – having all of your toes “free” allows them to flex and grab the ground, hence making it easier to balance and putting less stress on the ankle and legs.

I’m sure we could talk for hours and hours about this, but let’s move on for now. My morning started off with a quick treadmill run. Wednesday is usually my day off, but after last weekend’s indulgences, I felt like I needed an extra day of calorie burning! Running was following by a little Cheerios for breakfast…

Ahh…so healthy and colorful! On my way to work, I was really wanting a Starbucks but resisted the urge and temptation (after all, I am into Week #2 of the restaurant diet!). Instead, I tried out my office’s coffee/hot chocolate machine for a little frothy, chocolaty milk…

Adequate, but not Starbucks quality. I had back-to-back meetings this morning (you haven’t heard me say that in a while!) so, on a break, I managed to snack on a lemon Luna bar…

I LOVE lemon cookies, cakes, etc, so I was pleasantly surprised with the taste of this bar. It’s also a nice change from chocolate and peanut butter – whoaa, did I just say that?

Lunch happened to be an unpictured bowl of Trader Joe’s shells and white cheddar followed by TJ’s vanilla Greek yogurt in the late afternoon…

I mixed in some homemade granola and blueberries for an tasty and protein-filled treat. Plus, a little Tazo Awake tea to keep me going. I’ve discovered another new feature of my office’s gourmet coffee maker. It has a frothed milk option! So, I fill up a mug about 1/4 way with frothy milk then fill up the rest with hot water. I add my Tazo and voila – instant Tazo Awake Latte – not bad for spending no cashola!

Dinner was quickie because I was not in the mood to cook…

I’m so thankful we had minestrone soup still left in the freezer, otherwise I would have probably resorted to peanuts.

We are nearly out of all things chocolate in our house, except for the chocolate/peanut butter Cliff bar that I put in Scott’s Christmas stocking. He was not very willing to share his treats, even though he ate most of the chocolate truffles from my stocking – blah! He needs to go back to kindergarten.

Ok friends, I must be off to bed. I have a date with the treadmill in the AM as well as a yoga session at noon. Have a great night!

Thank you all for your kind words about my last post and my 2 babies! I really struggled with whether or not to tell all of you about them. But then I realized that it’s really hard to talk about some aspects of my life (like travel, stress, etc.) without mentioning that I have children! Now you can understand why I’ve only been posting once a day and so late at night 😉

Anyway, the day started off per usual, with a fast 40-minute run on the t-mill, followed by a big, green, juicy pear – just ripe for the pickin’ eating…

And it looks too cute on my oh so pretty plate from Anthropologie!

On Friday, I will head out to Phoenix/Scottsdale for the 1st of 6 trips I have planned for the next 5 months (5 of the trips being work-related). So this week, I’m trying to get a bunch of things done before leaving the office on Thursday. I really want to use any extra free time I have on this Phoenix trip to STUDY for my personal trainer test. It’s only about 5 weeks away – yikes!

Lunch ended up being leftover chicken noodle soup from Sunday, along with another LUNA bar. I was actually in the middle of a project when I paused for lunch and completely zonked on the picture taking.

Scott doesn’t start teaching his night class until next week, so he was home tonight! Thank goodness too, because he had dinner almost ready by the time I came home from work (and from picking up Mr. C and Miss M). He made an awesome one-pot meal of sausage, leeks, and tri-colored bell peppers…

I do want to point out that I made this dish FIRST, so in essence, I taught Scott everything he knows about this lovely meal!

After dinner, I was soooo wanting a cookie or another somethin’ somethin’ from Barnes and Noble Cafe. But, seeing as we just started our Restaurant Diet, I went to freezer to see if it would magically reveal something that I like – and it DID!!

I bought these little beauties just before Christmas at Trader Joe’s! Who would have thought that TJ’s would have French macarons (yes, they are spelled with just one “o”, unlike American macaroons). Now I absolutely adore French macarons – love them, love them, love them! So, when I saw them at TJ’s, I just about squealed with delight. Normally, I would prefer fresh macarons from a patisserie but seeing as those are few and far between in the Chicago suburbs, TJ’s macarons would do just fine – and that they did!

After about 15-20 minutes of thawing, I anxiously tried the vanilla flavor. Oh my – this cookie was so light and creamy and the flavor was incredible! Since they are a Trader Joe’s product, you know that they are using natural ingredients. Plus, they are only 45 calories per cookie – perfect for a little after-dinner treat.

Ok, enough fun with my macarons, it’s time to hit the books. Have a wonderful night!

Hey everyone! Hope you’re having a wonderful evening. Only 7 more shopping days until the BIG day! Just curious, has anyone out there NOT started holiday shopping yet?

I just finished a whirlwind evening of shopping, which included a stop at Trader Joe’s! Oh TJ, how I love thee 🙂 I know I’ve said this before but I’m gonna say it again, the people at Trader Joe’s are SO nice! Anyway, after shopping, I did a little LOT of cleaning! And now I’m relaxing, listening to a little Charlie Brown Christmas and lovin’ the jazzy tunes. They are actually making me quite sleepy – yawn…

You know one thing I don’t understand about the Charlie Brown Christmas special is …Where the heck is Peppermint Patty? She’s in every other holiday special out there but, for some reason, she’s left out in the cold on Christmas.

Anyway, back to cleaning….I LOVE when my house is CLEAN – you know, the kind of clean where you only need to “maintenance” clean for a couple weeks. And the REASON that I cleaned like a mad woman tonight? ….

My sister and her husband and my two-year old nephew are coming into town tomorrow – yeah! I’m so excited – can’t ya tell? We have big shopping plans for the weekend and my sister and I are going to afternoon tea at a snazzy tea shop. Fancy hats are optional, but I’m going to try to get one ahead of time. Any suggestions for a place to get a great hat to wear in the winter?

Ok, gotta get to bed or else I may just be too tired to run in the AM (yeah, like that would ever happen 😉 ) Have a great night and I’ll be back tomorrow with more pics of my holiday lunch with my team at work.

Hello There! It never fails, the Monday after a long weekend seems to go by sooo SLOW! And, although it was the so-called Cyber Monday, I had absolutely no desire to shop online. With 80 percent of my holiday shopping complete, I am just about shopped out! I can’t believe I just wrote that.

My morning began with a fast and super sweaty treadmill run. I probably could have toughed out the cold 30 degrees but it was still too dark at 6:15 AM for me to run outside.

I had a cubicle breakfast today – complete with a cup of creamy Trader Joe’s vanilla Greek yogurt with walnuts…

Funny thing about walnuts – I used to hate them when I was a kid and pecans too. But as an adult, I just can’t get enough of them. Good thing they are full of MUFA and are super good for you! Along with my yogurt, I had some hot and steamy Tazo Awake tea…

I’m not a big fan of eating breakfast at my desk, but sometimes it just needs to be done. I don’t mind eating lunch at my desk, although I do prefer eating out of the office. I’m usually playing catch up at lunchtime so it’s just more convenient to eat in the cube – just like today…

I had some very thick and tasty split pea soup leftover from Saturday night. It was perfect for a chilly afternoon. Later in the day, I desperately needed a chocolate fix and I just so happened to have a few homemade chocolate-log cookies courtesy of my father-in-law..

Unfortunately, I do not have the recipe for these festive babies, but I know that they are supposed to resemble logs with moss growing on them – hence the name chocolate-log cookies. My F-I-L makes them every year around Thanksgiving and Christmas and then distributes them among the family. How wonderful is that – a husband who cooks and a father-in-law who bakes!

I arrived home pretty late from work so I was in a rush to make dinner. I am so glad that I remembered to take chicken out of the freezer – it makes it so much easier to decide what to have for dinner when your chicken is ready to go. I drizzled some olive oil over the chicken then doused it with a mesquite rub and grilled it on the indoor grill. I’m tellin’ ya, having an indoor grill is pretty sweet in the winter!

I also made some awesome mashed sweet potatoes by steaming the potatoes, mashing them, and adding a bit of warmed milk, brown sugar, and butter. So easy and incredible!

The rest of the night will be spent studying for my personal training certification. I have a feeling that this certification process is going to be consuming quite a bit of my free time in the next few months.

By the way, if anyone is interested in trying an super awesome Dutch cheese, try Beemster Classic cheese – the taste is a mix of parmesan, asiago, and cheddar – so yum! To learn more, read my review!

By the way, the movie mentioned above is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – I can’t believe it’s been around for 20 years!

This morning, I did a couple miles on the old treadmill (which has NEVER had any clothes hanging on it – thank you very much!) then jumped off, threw on a running jacket, and headed outside for the remaining 2 1/2 miles. After my run, I did a few stretches and a 15-minute ab workout. I used to be a really hardcore runner, thinking that anything less than 6-7 miles was not worth my time. But after overtraining for a 1/2 marathon, I cut back quite bit and found that my body and I were much happier. This got me thinking…why have I been running for over 10 years and why do I keep running? The answers are simple and can be explained in just five words – control, convenience, cost, calories, and challenge.

Running With Cake: The Five C’s of Running

Control Factor: Running makes me feel strong and in control. If I can run for miles and miles, I feel like I can do anything.

Convenience: You can do it anywhere/anytime.

Cost: For the most part, all you need are good running shoes and running clothes.

Challenge: Distance running can be grueling at times, but it’s the utter satisfaction of finishing a race or achieving a personal record that makes it all worth it!

And the question is…Why do you run? If you don’t run, what is keeping you from starting?

By the way, overtraining is one of the most frequent mistakes made by runners. If you’re curious about the other common running mistakes, check out this Quiz from Women’s Health magazine which lists the top 11 running mistakes. I took the quiz, applying it to my current running style, and scored 100%.

As for the rest of my day…Breakfast was a big bowl of Honeynut Cheerios with a handful of walnuts – gotta love that MUFA crunch!

I only worked a 1/2 day today because I had a ton of errands to run before heading out tomorrow for our Thanksgiving feast! I am seriously amazed at how efficient I was between 1-5:30 PM. In just 4 1/2 hours, I managed to go to:

Go to Hobby Lobby

Do Laundry

Make 3 1/2 dozen chocolate chip cookies

Tidy up the house

Put away the Fall decorations

Go to Kohl’s

Go to Crate and Barrel

And somewhere in that marathon of errands, I managed to eat a bit of lunch…

A salami, ham, and cheddar cheese sandwich – the RWC standard these days, particularly when I don’t feel like cooking.

Dinner was a tad more exciting – Italian sausage on our indoor grill. We invested in Italian sausage a few weeks back – I say invested because we bought it at Costco, where the food (and everything else) comes in huge quantities, which causes you to invest a lot of time in eating it. To accompany the sausage, we had some very creamy Trader Joe’s shells and white cheddar cheese (aka. fancy mac & cheese) along with grilled bell peppers and onions.

Scott actually made the shells and cheese using the exact recipe on the box. I assured him that a standard box of mac & cheese is not difficult and that you don’t need to follow the recipe exactly. But, he’s a stickler for following recipes – most of the time 😉

Hey, how did that Go Roma business card get in the picture?? I think it wanted its 15-minutes of fame – but don’t we all?

Thank you to all of you who voted for your favorite foodie magazine. As promised, the magazine with the most votes would become the new Running With Cake subscription. And the winner is…Cooking Light magazine! Fine Cooking also was mentioned by more than one person, but Cooking Light seem to be the food blogger favorite. I plan to subscribe in the next two weeks, so that I can avoid getting a duplicate of the December issue that I plan to purchase tomorrow 🙂

OK ladies and gents, I’m off to bed. I need to get bright and early to get in a run before we leave.

Hello everyone! I am super tired right now because I stayed up until 12:30 AM to wrap Christmas presents (exchanged on Thanksgiving) and then woke up at 6 AM! Somehow before we went to bed, our alarm clock radio was turned up full blast. So when the radio alarm went off this morning I woke up to a blaring opera! I don’t think I’ve ever jumped out of bed so fast – it was pretty funny, now that I think about it. But it definitely was not amusing at the time.

I think the shock of the music may have given my body a jolt as well because I had a fantastic run this morning! Despite being a bit chilly outside at 6:30 AM (40 degrees), my body seemed to be in supercharge mode. I ran nearly 5 miles in 40 minutes and felt like I could run even more! Typically, I do not run more than 4 miles on weekdays just because I don’t have the time.

I ended up eating my breakfast at work, which worked out just fine…

My Trader Joe’s Greek vanilla yogurt with walnuts kept me full until lunch. I also had a humungo cup of Tazo Awake tea love goin’ on today…

My boss returned to the office today after being gone for nearly 10 days in Seoul, Korea on business. He was thoughtful enough to bring a little something back for everyone on our team (5 women). He gave me a very cute little orange purse..

I love the color and the soft, shiny texture. Because it is on the small and dainty side, I think I will end up using it as a jewelry carrier when I travel, rather than for a purse.

I didn’t end up eating lunch until 2 PM due to an unplanned meeting. I was sooo hungry by the time I ate my cream of chicken and wild rice soup…

It was Scott’s turn to make dinner tonight but he pulled one of my tricks and decided we should just go out to eat instead. We ended up at our favorite Asian bistro Big Bowl. We ordered our traditional crispy chicken egg rolls, which I promptly ate so fast I nearly forgot to take a picture. I was reminded by Scott only after I had already taken a bite – he he!

Next up, we split the make-your-own stir fry bar where we chose crispy chicken in a kung pao sauce over brown rice. We also added a bunch of fresh veggies from the stir-fry bar…

Scott and I have this unspoken competition about who can fit the most veggies in the bowl. It’s all about how BIG the bowl (or the veggies in it) can get. To give him proper credit, Scott is a very good stacker and somehow manages to get twice the amount of veggies stuffed in the bowl than I think most people can. However, when he chooses the veggies, he usually choose the ones HE wants even though they are for us to share. He nearly always leaves out my favorites – mini corns, water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots. So today, I took over the “big bowl”, and grabbed all of my favorites and stuffed them in. I didn’t do too bad of a job as you can see above! Aside from my three favorites, I also added:

Mushrooms

Spinach

Zucchini

Red and Green Peppers

Shredded Carrots

Pea Pods

Broccoli

Tomorrow is my last day in the office until Monday – woo hoo! Plus, I’m thinking of only working a 1/2 day so that I can run a few more errands related to my Thanksgiving family dinner.

By the way, any of you who still want to vote for your favorite foodie magazine, you have until tomorrow at 9 PM Eastern. Right now, Cooking Light is in the lead!